Friday, March 19, 2010

Perdue's monthly numbers

Bev Perdue's gradual rise to respectability continues this month, as her approval rating is above 30% for the first time since last May.

32% of North Carolinians approve of the job Perdue is doing while 47% disapprove. That -15 approval spread is still pretty poor, but as recently as October it was -30 at 24% approving and 54% disapproving so she's half way back to even.

As Perdue's numbers have improved, many of her peers across the country have seen their numbers decline to record poor levels. Because of that Perdue is no longer an unusually popular Governor. The 47% disapproving of her is just slightly higher than the 45% we've found for Governors on average over the last six months.

Perdue is now just short of getting back over 50% with voters in her own party. 49% of Democrats like the job she's doing to 29% disapproving. She continues to sport poor numbers with independents (28/47) and Republicans (10/72) although those are pretty much par for the course for Democratic politicians across the country right now. Her main challenge if she wants to get her numbers back in positive territory is to push closer to the 70-80% range of approval from her party's faithful.

Generic legislative ballot polling continues to indicate North Carolina will see a spirited and competitive battle for control of the General Assembly this year. 42% of voters say they plan to vote Democratic in the fall and 42% say they plan to vote Republican. Independents lean toward the GOP by a 35-26 margin, but Democrats keep it tied overall thanks to their large identification advantage in the state.